A Late Start On Love
by YaoiHSM
Summary: Troy has the perfect life,the perfect girl,the perfect future.But when a new family moves in,his life will never be the same.Feeling he never knew rise,secrets are revealed,lives are changed.Can he manage a life in the dark? TroyxRyan rated M for safety.


**_Chapter One_**

His head was pounding. He groaned as he brought a hand up to his aching head. He shouldn't have drunk so much the night before, it was a bad idea. The only reason he did it was because it was common sense to drink at a party, especially when others are chanting for you to chug it. And being "Troy Bolton" the basketball all star of the school, the golden boy of the High School, he couldn't let his peers down. Thus he drank.

What an idiot he was.

As he walked down the halls towards his next class, luckily it being gym, he bumped into his best friend Chad Danforth.

"Hey man. Awesome party last night huh?" Chad grinned as he clapped him on the back. Troy forced a smile, but failed miserably. Seeing his friends distress, Chad's smile slowly faded, a worried look replacing it. "You ok dude?" He asked and Troy shook his head.

"Migraine." Troy shrugged.

Chad frowned and looked at the other boy next to him. "It was the party, wasn't it?" He asked and Troy winced, having been found out. "Sorry man, I shouldn't have forced you to go."

"No." Troy shook his head. "I'm glad I went. It was a blast. I just wish I hadn't drank so much."

"Drink loads of water, it should help a hangover." A girl with chestnut colored hair stated helpfully as she passed them by, stopping a few feet from them, looking at them with sharp hazel eyes. "Although time is the only cure for such a thing." She continued. "Ah well, have a good day." She then turned and left, leaving two very confused jocks.

"Who was that?" Troy asked.

"Haven't a clue man." Chad shook his head as he answered.

Shrugging their shoulders, the two friends continued towards the mens locker room. Spotting his father, Troy rushed over and pulled him aside. Quickly, he asked his father if he could sit out, giving his coach his reasoning and the older Bolton male allowed him to stay inside to rest.

Walking into his fathers office inside the locker room, he closed the door and laid down on the old sofa that had been there for years. One hand resting on his stomach, the other over his eyes, he allowed sleep to consume him, and not a second later was he sound asleep.

He jolted up from the tattered couch, rolling off and slamming to the ground when the bell rung loudly in the closed room. Groaning, he pushed himself up and glared angrily, albeit groggily, at the clock on the wall.

Sitting down, legs crossed, Troy rubbed his tired eyes and gave a loud yawn. Licking his lips, he shook his head and made to stand up only to find one of his legs asleep. Frowning, Troy stomped his foot and he trudged out of the room.

Making it to the next class, Troy flopped down at his desk ad ducked his head into his folded arms, mind swirling with clouding pain. Life sucked. But on the upside, his headache was slowly diminishing. It hurt just a little less than it did earlier.

Throughout the class the pain seemed to have boiled up again because of the lecture. Why did they need to learn Science? People didn't really use it in their everyday life. He understood if someone wanted to work in a field of Science or something closely related, but him? No, he was going to be a basketball player,an NBA star. That had nothing to do with science. Did it? Nope. Not that he knew of.

When a striking pain shot through his head, he let out a muffled groan and felt a gentle hand place itself on his shoulder in a comforting manner. Raising his head, he turned to see Gabriella -his girlfriend- looking at him worriedly.

"You alright there Wildcat?" She asked. Her head tilting as she spoke, her dark hair spilling to the side cutely.

He forced a smile on his face to soothe his girlfriend. "Yeah, I'm just tired." He lied. She gave him a look that told him that she didn't believe a word he had just said, but that she'd let it slide. For now. He forced the headache that had started to consume his head slightly lessen in pain. Maybe if he kissed Gabs the pain would leave him completely. Thinking more thoroughly, Troy rolled his eyes at the stupid thought that previously crossed his ind. That was a stupid idea.

When the bell rang, Troy was so ecstatic -and hungry- that he shot up from his seat and didn't wait for Gabriella as he bounded towards the cafeteria. There he spotted Chad standing in line. Chad, for some reason, was always one of the first people in the line. How his friend did it was still a mystery to him.

"Yo, Chad!" He called running to his friend as he waved his hand. Chad turned his head and grinned.

"Dude, you ok? You look like you just got out of military school." Chad asked as Troy reached him. Playfully punching him on the arm, Troy laughed.

"You exaggerate too much. It was just Science." Chad made a face. "But hey, mind if I cut?"

"Go ahead." Chad motioned for him to stand in front of him and he gladly did so. He was a starving growing man. He needed his food as soon as possible.

"So, we up for a game after school?"

"Hell yes." Troy beamed. He could use a little escape from school and all its horrors.

"Awesome."

The two then continued to chat while they gathered their lunch and headed to the table to eat. They had to wait for their girlfriends to arrive, seeing as they stood in the middle of the long, very long, line. They would have waited for the girls to arrive for them to start eating if they were proper gentlemen. But who ever said they were? They quickly dug in, wolfing down the food like wild beasts that hadn't eaten for a week and was shown a large, juicy boar.

"Guys, chill out. I'm pretty sure the food isn't going to run away from you." Jason plopped down opposite to Troy, watching the two basketball players with amusement. "But if it was alive, I'm sure it would."

"Shut up." The two said in unison, Chad throwing a few fries at the other guy. Laughing, Jason rolled his eyes and began eating. Greeting both Gabriella and Taylor when they arrived. "You have got to get some manners if you don't want me to dump your sorry ass Danforth." Taylor said as she sat down next to the afro haired male. A disgusted look on her face.

"You know you like it." Chad said with a grin.

Taylor shook her head and looked the other way. "Yeah, sure. I love it just like I love having a dog slobber all over me." The group of friends laughed.

Seeing Gabriella, Troy smiled and gave her a small kiss on the cheek. She giggled and leaned into him, resting her weight on his side. She smiled up at him and he returned it lovingly.

Really, Gabriella was a very sweet girl and no one ever made him feel as happy as she did. But if he had to compare his feelings to those people read in books, it wasn't anything of the sort. He didn't get butterflies every time he saw her. His heart didn't race with the thought of kissing her. Fireworks didn't flash when they had shared their first kiss. His stomach didn't clench at the thought of losing her.

When they kissed, he felt nice. When they hugged, he felt like he needed to protect her. Their first kiss he could only describe as ok. The thought of losing her made him frown. It was strange, it sometimes made him wonder about his feelings, but he never once spoke his thoughts aloud. Oh no. He couldn't do that.

"Hey Troy, you there?" A hand waved itself in front of his face and he blinked, returning to the land of the living from his made up world of la-la-land.

"Oh sorry. Zoned out a bit." He spoke truthfully. "You say something?" He asked and Gabrialla pouted.

"I was asking you if you had any plans for tonight."

"Not really. Why?" He asked confused.

"I thought we could go on a date. It's been a while since we've been on one." A wistful look passed through her face and he nodded thoughtfully.

"It has hasn't it? Ok, sure. Anywhere you want to go?" He wrapped his arms around her and placed a kiss on her head.

"Hmm…I was thinking Olive Garden. It's a nice place, and not that expensive."

"Sounds cool. It's a date." He grinned and she laughed. "Seven at your house?" She nodded at his question.

The next thing Troy knew, it was night. The stars twinkling happily in the sky, the moon hardly seen as a dark ball took its place. The game with Chad after school had gotten his spirits much higher. And now he stood in front of Gabriella's house waiting for her to come down, her mother smiling giddily at Troy. He shifted nervously in his spot. How long was Gabs going to take?

He heard footsteps running down the stairs and he sighed in relief. She rushed out the door and smiled at him shyly. She wore a turquoise colored summer dress, her hair tied up, a few locks of hair let loose around her face curling cutely.

"Hey there wildcat, looking good." She teased, standing on her tip-toes to give him a small quick peck on the lips. He wrapped his arms around her small waist and pulled her up, making her giggle.

"You look lovely tonight Gabs." He said affectionately and Gabriella smiled as she playfully whacked him on the chest, making him put her back down.

They drove off to Olive Garden and ordered some pasta. Well, Gabriella ordered some pasta and a small salad while Troy picked out anything with any type of meat in it. They drank their soda quietly as they small talked throughout their meal. When their date was over, Troy drove his girlfriend back to her house and planted her a good night kiss full on her lips.

Driving back home, Troy sighed as he entered his room. He was tired. Practically tearing his clothes off from his body, he left himself in his boxers and plopped down on the bed; limbs spread apart, eyes staring wordlessly up into the bland ceiling of his room.

Morning came and again he headed to school. Everyone in the halls were chattering louder than usual, he mused. Walking up to the gang that too were chattering as quickly as a hummingbirds wings flapping. "Guys, what's going on? Did I miss something?" He asked draping an arm over Gabriella's shoulders.

They all stared at him like he was crazy. "You haven't heard?"

"Heard what?" He asked, confusion showing on his face.

"Some rich folks just moved in. You know that big mansion that no one ever bought?" Taylor said and Troy nodded. He knew the place. How could anyone NOT know it? "Some people just moved in there last night." She finished.

"Really?" Eyes wide, he looked at all of them to see if they were joking but saw that they weren't. "Wow. So are we going to be having a new kid in school?"

"Apparently not. I heard that they're rich and that they're being home schooled."

"Oh. That's too bad." He shrugged. Not that he really cared.

_**TBC....**_

_**A/N:**_ Hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter! And don't forget to review! I'd love to hear what you think so far! -beams-


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